


Kalikori

by Kaggath



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Jedi, Other, POV Alternating, Sith, Twi'lek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-06-25 20:10:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15648075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaggath/pseuds/Kaggath
Summary: Eleena Daru has had enough. If the man who she thought was her savior cannot save her, she will save herself.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The story starts like We Were Deceived, set at the same time during the same events. We'll learn pretty quick how a single decision can change so much.

Coruscant glittered with life and vibrance, millions of gleaming facets to trillions of gems strolling through parks, hurrying to their homes…kissing their lovers goodbye. Speeders swept by going to places worth going, doing things worth doing. Coruscant was a living thing with its own pulse, but there were those who wanted to feel that pulse weaken under their fingertips. 

Incredible feats of architecture raised their praises skyward, and Eleena followed the unfamiliar structures with her gaze while she could. Beside her, the thundering gait of Malgus seemed impossibly loud. He strode haughtily through the public, untouchable. Eleena learned long ago to veil her emotions, but the guilt of what was to come threatened to drown her as she walked alongside him. It was so thick she could taste it. 

Guilt surrounded Eleena much the same as Malgus was steeped in hate, so deep neither of them were able to escape. It soon would be too late for them. She told herself over and over that she did what she had to do to survive. After being taken in by Malgus, she had no choice. 

No justification she gave herself silenced the terrors, waking or in sleep, that eventually became yet another part of her life set in duracrete. Nothing she did could be undone. For all her achievements and accomplishments in spite of her lot in life, for all her strength and talent she honed under the tutelage of a prodigy, she was completely helpless. Without a will of her own, she was merely a tool.

Except…

There were times when she could see…she could tell that Veradun truly cared for her. There would be no need to waste such valuable resources as time and instruction if not to show he cared. With his upbringing, the constant pressure of expectations from his family, from the Sith, from himself…would he ever have learned another way to show the sentiment? Would he even be able to identify it if pressed? 

Endearment, affection, love—useless distractions from the unending blind groping for what they convinced themselves was power. How many times had Eleena heard the Code in passing? One hundred? One thousand? She knew it as well as if it had been drilled into her as it was the apprentices on Korriban. And yet for all its repetition in her mind, she could not grasp how an intergalactic war, a means to no end, could be the lesson gleaned from their incantation.

Somehow, somewhere, a mistake was made. There was no other answer. But because of that mistake, that misinterpretation, this world would burn. Their steady march took them closer and closer to where that flame would be ignited. Eleena had to do something…had to make him understand. Eleena had to summon Veradun from Malgus and show him it was wrong, that there was still a chance for them to walk away. To have a life worth living.

Eleena could see Malgus entrenched in thought. His deep rooted beliefs overlaying the truth of what they planned to do. Perhaps in his eyes Coruscant was already burning. After the bloodied world of Korriban and the ferocious Dromund Kaas, Malgus was a pacing tuk’ata in a lavish palace. Angry, deadly, and completely out of place.

Bracing herself, Eleena spoke.

“What are you thinking of, Veradun?”

A whisper of the man inside the monster surfaced, before being swept away like dust.

“I am thinking of fire,” he said. She knew. Flames licked from inside his eyes. It was exactly as she feared, but she had to try.

Picking her words carefully, they walked a few more paces. A child, human, distracted Malgus while Eleena pondered the best way to approach. Sorrow welled deep inside her as she calculated. The child turned her innocent eyes away from the beast that was Eleena’s savior.

“This is a beautiful world,” Eleena probed. He had to see it, had to know. There were so many beings, so many opportunities. Coruscant was nothing like the world Malgus took her from, took her to. He had to see the difference in them. 

“Not for very much longer.” His certainty cut her deep. Not the cauterizing precision of a lightsaber, but the bloody, messy gash of a vibroblade. 

“Veradun…” she nearly choked on his name from the hidden tears inside her heart. She turned her face away before he could see. Could his Force feel the depths of her pain?

“You may speak your mind, Eleena,” Malgus said, but her mind was meters away with the human girl. If Eleena failed, the girl may die, or be scarred for life. 

Grappling to stay at the surface of the ocean of her sadness, Eleena could feel herself slipping down down down. Children were not an option for them, but Eleena couldn’t help but imagine a long haired daughter held tightly to Veradun’s broad chest, able to feel protected and secure as Eleena had not. Or a son, given gentleness his father never received. 

Every possibility died inside her. It was better that way. This was not a life for having children, and she had nothing worthy to give them. 

“When will the fighting end?” Eleena finally managed. 

“What do you mean?

“Your life is war, Veradun. Our life! When will it end? It cannot always be so.” He had to hear the desperation in her voice. Surely Eleena could get through to him. She saw him nodding, but instead of the recognition of their misdeeds she saw the infuriating “teacher” ready to dole out instruction on the nuances of the Dark Side.

“You choose to fight beside me, Eleena. You have killed many in the name of the Empire.” The sea of heartache boiled with rage. Eleena could feel it rising to her cheeks, acidic purple fury blooming before him.

Enough.

Eleena stopped. Malgus continued for a few paces, stopped, and turned to face her. 

“Not anymore.” Eleena looked into his eyes. Malgus blinked in confusion a few times, taken completely by surprise. Stalking back to her, the air was so thick with tension Eleena couldn’t breathe. Drawing her shoulders back, setting her jaw, Eleena prepared herself for whatever would come next. 

“Explain.” His mangled baritone voice crashed down on her like an avalanche. The gravity of Malgus’s existence bore down on Eleena like a black hole, pulling her in to the chaos and destruction of his life. 

“I will not kill again. I am not a weapon. I am not a tool. Do what you will, but I will not take another life, and there is nothing you can do to make me. Not anymore.”

Malgus reached out, but before he could grab her, Eleena jerked away. She could see a battle playing out in his eyes, grappling with what was happening. Hardened men and women of war cowered under his gaze. The red and yellow venom of his eyes alone cast fear into their hearts, locking their joints, pouring ice into their blood. 

They stood against each other in silence, but where Malgus burned as a pillar of fear and hate and destruction, Eleena was a monument of will. She refused to let this be her life, even if it meant he would kill her. 

“Eleena…” Malgus was above pleading, but the inflection still held some bastardized question. It was a command, and an inquiry. A sound like a confused rancor. 

Eleena could feel the mirror of her defiance all those years back on Geonosis. Staring into the infinite horizon past the red sky of the putrid planet and the expanse of blood and pain that was Malgus’s eyes felt the same. Both marked the irreversible change Eleena brought on herself by her decisions to disobey. 

A ghost of pain danced across her throat. 

“No.”

Eleena could hear the crackling of a fire, fury billowing from Malgus like the end of days. The silence shattered with the sound of Malgus receiving a message. He took it, and urgency crept into his gaze. 

“We are running out of time. Come.”

The Empire was too big. The Republic. The whole galaxy. Nobody could save Eleena but herself. Away from the mass of the war effort, the Lords and the Darths, the mercenaries and the bureaucrats and the Emperor himself, now was the best chance she would ever have to escape. Eleena didn’t want it to be this way, but she would no longer be compliant. 

“No, Veradun. You are running out of time…good bye.” 

Eleena turned, and walked away. She refused to let herself look back. Whether Malgus was taking aim, watching her leave, or turning his back on her in return, Eleena couldn’t handle any option or alternative. In her mind, in that moment Veradun died. He was no more, and there was nothing to see.

Alone, Eleena walked, heartbroken and anguished. The only thing that kept her going was the unbreakable will that had helped her survive this long. 

 

 

Now was not the time to dwell on feelings. Eleena knew she didn’t have time to acquire a ship: as soon as planetary bombardment began she would be shot out of the sky. She needed somewhere on planet to hide until she could leave. 

Having seen the plans and briefings, Eleena had an edge. She knew some few kilometers from here was one of Coruscant’s forest parks. They were few, and the constant expansion of the city-planet threatened to eliminate them. Beings needed to see something green once in a while, and there was nothing of value to the Empire in a small square of domesticated, imported flora. 

Eleena knew she wouldn’t make it on foot before the attack started. She needed a vehicle. No being would believe her if she tried to warn them. Not until it was too late.

 

**Malgus**

Jump complete. On approach. Arrival in ninety seconds.

By the time Malgus read the second message Eleena already disappeared into the crowd. There was no time to go after her or Malgus would risk missing the destruction of the temple. He would not prematurely expose that he was Sith. While it would be easy, almost beneath him even, to cut through the beings between him and his prey as if they were overgrown weeds, Malgus was running out of time.

Charging forward, Malgus stormed the temple alone.

The Mandalorian, a woman of incredible skill that Malgus frequently employed, and the hijacked drop ship were both on schedule. Eleena would follow, eventually. The bombs would drop soon after Malgus took the temple. She knew the safest place to be was at his side.

Statues of Jedi past glared down at him in accusation. Malgus’s gait sounded wrong, and he realized the emptiness in the tempo of his march without Eleena’s to accompany it. Scowling under his respirator, he drank in the anger it stoked, just as he was taught to. Malgus had long perfected the art of drawing on the power it brought.

Several guards watched him approach, quickly shifting their stances at the sound of his cratering footsteps. Resisting the urge to check his chrono, Malgus ignited his lightsaber. His rage fed their fear, and their fear fed his power, swirling together in a symbiosis of the Force. 

Malgus did not have time to let himself fester in the confusion of Eleena’s defiance, but his anger at her served him well. It propelled him forward before they could shoot, bisecting the middle trooper from the gut in an arc of unstoppable power that didn’t end until it had relieved the comrade to the right of his head.

Grabbing hold of the third Republic trooper before him with the Force, Malgus crushed his body with an invisible grip as he threw the man into one of the blasphemous statues of Jedi. Malgus would see to it that none stood by nightfall. He would see to it that the whole planet crumpled under his boot.

The sound of blasterfire pricked his ears. The Mandalorian, perched near the temple entrance, cut down two remaining soldiers from above. Her rocket pack scorched the air as she descended to him.

“Where is Eleena?” The Mandalorian’s question sounded very close to a demand. Malgus did not appreciate her tone, nor did he know she was apparently on a first-name basis with Eleena. They had just over thirty seconds before the drop ship crashed through the temple. 

“She will be here soon,” Malgus said decisively as he walked away, simmering in his growing rage. “Return to your position,” he said without looking back. The sound of The Mandalorian’s ascent signaled her obedience.

Twenty eight seconds.


	2. Chapter 2

**Eleena**

Flying against duracrete, Eleena could feel time slipping out of her grasp. Bystanders, alarmed by her fleeing, began to murmur and rustle in a crescendo of fear as the off-course dropship flew low, all but skimming their heads, barreling toward the Jedi Temple. Soon the bombs would fall. Eleena couldn’t be in the streets as those with access to speeders began to flee. 

Realizing she wouldn’t make it to the forest park, Eleena scanned the area for an alternative, overlaying the destruction plans in stride. The cold, sterile blue and silver shadowed over the orange and cream of the setting sun reflecting on transparasteel. 

No…the sun wasn’t setting. It was still too early local time. Eyes darting to the sky, Eleena’s stomach dropped. Destruction rained down from the sky.

And then the screaming began. 

Battle cries sounded nothing like civilian fear. Everyone was running, screaming, crying. There were no patterns to the fleeing terror. It surged and crashed around Eleena, true chaos. 

A blur of panic cross cutting the path of evacuation grabbed Eleena’s attention. It was the woman from before, and her daughter in her arms, heading straight for an area slated for death. 

“Get inside! Now!” Eleena commanded as she grabbed her by the shoulder, turning her to look into the woman’s panicked eyes. Understanding shone as a dim light in her gaze, barely surfacing from the depths of her fear.

Eleena ushered her into the nearest building, still fighting the urge to look at the sky. They would get to cover in time, or they would die. There was no time to waste gawking and questioning. Scanning the interior of the establishment, Eleena catalogued her surroundings.

Tables, chairs, frightened patrons, half eaten dishes. It was a restaurant. The lights were dim, the windows tinted. Artificial flames burned in crystal bowls. 

“Away from the windows! Get down!” Eleena commanded the confused beings. She never realized how far she had come in controlling her fear. Had it not been for her training, she would be frozen just like them. Cowering. Not knowing what to do.

It was a frightening thought, but she couldn’t dwell on it. Eleena heard the craters rampaging toward them. Pushing on the woman’s shoulders forcefully, Eleena corralled her under a table. From the edges of her vision she saw the rest of the patrons following suit.

“Stay low and keep your head covered,” she tossed under the table. The little girl began to cry, or perhaps cry louder. Eleena wasn’t sure. She focused on the countdown to the nearest targets.

Scanning the room, everyone in the restaurant cowered beneath the tables and booths, huddled together. Everyone except her, and a lone Togruta trembling violently, watching out the window as his mind fractured with shock.

Eleena watched his gaze slowly decline.

Her body reacted before her mind could process what she was doing. Eleena felt her body vault over a table, bringing her to him. Hooking her leg into the back of his knee, Eleena brought them both down as gently as she could, protecting the back of his head and mindful of her instinct to harm. 

His cry of surprise was lost to the roar of carnage and ruin.

 

 

**Malgus**

Storming the temple, Malgus was the embodiment of rage, of hate. He felt the Dark Side churning around him, swallowing up the festering impurity of Jedi blather. It walked with him, guided him down the path to the vision it bestowed him so many years ago on Korriban. The anticipation of his victory crackled in his blood like lightning. 

The Force had shown him a galaxy in flames, and he would be the spark to ignite it. He would raze planet after planet in conquest, the perfection of conflict.

Relishing in the confusion and fear of the beings that watched his approach, Malgus felt a prick of irritation as he realized their attention was split between the stalking predator and the pack that ran behind him.

He had missed the window of opportunity to truly cultivate the epicurean dread of pre-battle horror. The hijacked ship tore through the entrance behind him. Malgus continued his leisurely stride to the heart of the temple. The lacerated stone rumbled beneath his feet, a physical manifestation of the magnitude of his distaste for the disgusting display of misunderstanding of the true nature of the Force.

Several Jedi drew their lightsabers, taking up formation near a grand staircase opposite Malgus. At its peak, the only Jedi here worthy of Malgus’s attention: Ven Zallow. Glaring into him, Malgus tore off his cape, casting it to his side to be swallowed up by the hot breath of the drop ship’s fire. 

Noticing Eleena still had yet to catch up to them, Malgus’s anger itched with a twinge of concern. She was to be by his side as he took his glorious victory in the very heart of the Jedi’s ill-perceived “safety.” 

Glowering as the hatch tore open, Malgus scowled and activated his lightsaber. Zallow tore his eyes from Malgus to peer into the mutilated ship. He would teach the Jedi what a lethal mistake it was to let one’s eyes stray from the true heart of danger. 

The sound of fifty Sith warriors’ lightsabers joining his filled the air. Malgus could feel their anticipation mirroring his. All but one. A thorn in his side slinking around, ruining everything he touched. Adraas. 

“May the Force be with you all!” the fool Zallow called out to his fellow Jedi. Little did he know he only added more kindling to the fire of Malgus’s hatred. For him, for the Jedi as a whole, for everything.

The boiling intensity of Malgus’s rage began to spill over. The charge began, and nothing could hold him back. Awash in the power of the Dark Side like a divine blessing, Malgus led them, a Force augmented scream shaking the very foundations of the temple. 

The battle began, but there was a haze to his perception. Malgus felt a sort of…blindness. Emptiness. Whatever was missing from him, he would fill it with the satisfaction of victory. Blaster bolts began their hashing across the battlefield as Republic soldiers joined the fray. Malgus tracked them, and sent them back to those who had unleashed them, arcing his lightsaber right…left…angle twelve degrees…

A stray shot he just missed returning to a trooper singed across his arm. 

Looking down at the smoking wound in astonishment, Malgus couldn’t believe he had missed. It was barely a scratch, but the pain was not the issue. Pain was like an old rival to Malgus. Something he fought against and defeated time and again. A familiar constant in his life. What it stood for, however, was something he could not tolerate.

Charging on, he cut through bodies, parried blows, drank in the conflict. But it was tainted. He felt as though he only saw through one eye. Malgus couldn’t place how he had been hindered, but hindered he was. Nevertheless, he charged on.

Trying to bring his concentration back to the carnage, Malgus was once again jostled from his dark cloister as Adraas shattered it with his flouncing, extravagant “technique.” Somersaulting, twisting through the air, he twirled into the center of a squad of Republic soldiers, landing with a burst of Force energy that sent them flying.

Disgusting.

Malgus would show him how it was truly done.

Picking a Jedi at random, Malgus gathered his hate, his pain, his rage…fueled himself with all he could not stand. The storm that erupted from his hand harvested a Jedi…two…then two Padawans. But it wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever enough. Bringing his other hand to join the first, doubling the maelstrom of terror Malgus unleashed a depth of power he doubted the Jedi or Sith had ever seen before. 

Malgus let the storm rage even after his targets were dead. The electricity from his fingertips took the life out of the very air. Should a Jedi misstep they too would fall to his power. If the insatiable arcs found their way to his men so be it. Malgus panted from the exertion, but he was far from tired. 

He was furious.

Blaster bolts peppered the ground around him, and as he turned Malgus caught another shot. This time to his calf. Snarling, Malgus took his lightsaber into a two handed grip, but in the moment just before he launched himself at the fresh wave of Republic troops, The Mandalorian finally joined the massacre. 

A muscle in his cheek twitched.

A Jedi, focused on another of the Sith, stepped too close. Malgus cut him down, and then continued cleaving his way through the battlefield. Everything was all wrong. The Jedi were falling, yes, but there was something awry about it. Malgus was not satisfied. It was not as he had seen. It was not his way.

Malgus saw Adraas sauntering toward Zallow. Oily. Haughty. Just as much a bastardization of the Force as the Jedi themselves. The only way to remedy that which tormented Malgus was to defeat Zallow. He would not let Adraas take this from him.

Just as Malgus launched himself to flank Zallow, another Jedi also engaged. Two Jedi, two Sith. The last time Malgus fought in this ratio one Jedi barely escaped as he cut down the other, before beheading the fellow Sith for his weakness. This time he would kill them all and so many more. 

Adraas twirled his saber less like a weapon and more like a baton. Taunting the Jedi. Taunting Malgus. The easy arcs spun in red circles left, right, left…Malgus could feel Zallow’s attention following the patterns of light before him, and probing his awareness back with the Force. The other Jedi, facing Malgus, was not so wise.

Adraas once again leapt high, past Zallow, and through the other Jedi. Malgus predicted the attack and cut right well before Adraas even reached the peak of his jump. While Adraas busied himself with the lesser Jedi, Malgus would take his prize. 

Zallow blocked, blocked, dodged as Malgus whittled him down. He was limber, agile. Strong. But not strong enough. Adraas joined the attack and Malgus doubled his efforts. Split between the two Sith, Zallow held his own. 

Malgus should have cut Adraas down for interfering, but even he knew better than that. It would not sit well to murder a political favorite in the middle of a meticulously plotted attack, no matter how much he deserved it. No…Malgus had to make it seem as though he fell to the Jedi.

Sabers clashed, red to red, red to green, green to red as Malgus tried to push Zallow into position…there. In the split of a second Malgus found his opportunity. He saw it, clear as day, if the Jedi were to bat away Malgus’s attack, all it would take would be a small push with the Force, with the Jedi’s momentum, to stick that saber straight into Adraas’s guts. 

Malgus initiated his attack when again the strange unseeing clouded him. When he came to, his and Adraas’s sabers locked, meeting in the middle of Zallow. The Jedi’s face fell, agony and despair his final moments. Malgus glared into the mask across the infinite expanse. Blank. The shoulders just below it jerked up and down…chuckling. Adraas saluted Malgus sarcastically before leaping back into the battle.


	3. Chapter 3

“Who wh-would do t-this?” the Togruta stammered below her. The patrons began to stir as the dust of their planet settled. Eleena resurfaced, scanning the restaurant. 

“A monster…” she said, not looking down to him. She could feel him trembling. Several beings in the room cried. Those who could, comforted each other. Standing, Eleena picked across toward the entrance. 

No debris blocked the way. Good. Nothing close enough to affect them caught fire. The lights were out, but the artificial candles on the tables operated independently from the power grid.

“We have to get out of here!” a human woman shrieked. 

“No…” Eleena all but whispered over her shoulder. Beings began to crowd toward the entrance, trying to escape. “We have to stay until help arrives!” Eleena urged more forcefully.

The small crowd began to churn restlessly. Turning to face them, Eleena felt herself falling into the role of leader. It was a role she hadn’t expected, didn’t want. But these people were about to flock into their deaths. She had to do something.

“After bombardment comes occupation. Patrols. If you leave now you will be shot down!” Eleena raised her voice above them. That got them to quiet down. Eleena continued.

“Once it’s safe, Republic soldiers will begin the relief effort. Until then it is too dangerous to leave. I need all employees—is the manager here? Let me speak with them.”

An older Sullustan woman stepped forward. Were it not for the rumple of panic in her uniform, Eleena would have described her as sharp. Her wide eyes were focused. Determined. Eleena felt a foreign pride for the stranger. She seemed like a strong individual. Eleena was glad for that.

“I own this establishment,” she said, straightening her uniform. 

“We need to get everyone away from the windows, somewhere they can’t be seen, until it’s safe. Is there somewhere here like that?”

“The kitchen, break room, and receiving area should hold everyone. It won’t be comfortable, but it should be safe,” the Sullustan relayed, ticking off her points on short fingers.

“Excellent,” Eleena said. “Please, what is your name?” she asked.

“Ilda. Ilda Gint.”

Again raising her voice, Eleena addressed the gathering before her. They looked to her like lost children, and guilt swelled up in her.

“I need the employees to guide everyone to the kitchen, break room, and receiving area. Once it is cleared, meet me back here and we will move what furnishings we can to those places. If anyone here is hurt or needs assistance, stay put and we will help you to safety.”

Her instruction hung in the air for a beat, then slowly other beings dressed similarly to Ilda began to gently call out directions. Eleena turned to Ilda, motioning that they should move to somewhere slightly more private to speak.

“For how long can you feed them with what is in the kitchen?” Eleena asked in a low voice. Her arms crossed uncomfortably in front of her. Ilda’s large eyes rolled up slightly as she calculated in her mind.

“With everything that is prepped, probably two days. After that the perishables will turn. Unless the backup for the cooler goes out. Do you think it could take longer than that?” Eleena could see fear clawing Ilda’s throat, straining her voice. 

“Probably not, but we need to plan for the worst…what about clean water supply?”

“Even if the water stops, we have plenty of bottled. Cellar’s not bad either…” she joked. It sounded empty, but the fact that she was trying was a good sign. She was holding together in spite of everything. Eleena nodded. 

“Let’s go,” she said. “There is much we need to do.”

 

 

Once everyone settled deeper into the building, Eleena and Ilda, along with Ilda’s crew, pulled table cloths, pushed tables, and carried chairs to the huddled beings, trying to muster up what comfort they could. 

Most wrapped table cloths around them, trying to hold themselves in while their world crumbled from underneath them. Eleena sat on the floor, back to the wall as her guilt-driven relief effort settled. It was time for them to wait.

While it was true what Eleena said about the patrols, she had another motive to keep the beings in the restaurant a while longer. She knew the extent of the damage the planet was to receive. They didn’t know just how lucky they were to be largely uninjured, never mind alive. Eleena wanted it to stay that way. They didn’t need to see just how bad it was…better to cushion it. To wait until the cleanup began and give them the mercy of not bearing witness to the full extent of the damage.

Ilda approached her gently, a large plate in her hands. 

“Thank you,” she said, presenting the dish to Eleena. It was saucy, with mushrooms and root vegetables Eleena couldn’t place. Veradun was less than epicurean in his meals. Eleena swallowed hard. 

“It’s okay,” Ilda said, urging her to eat. “I’ll go check on everyone. Take a moment, you must be starving.”

Eleena smiled to her and gingerly took a bite. 

The mushroom was still hot, squishy. It had a taste of something like soil…

 

 

“Look what I have found!” Nerra whispered excitedly. He presented the small group with a less than extraordinary stone bowl, and a single mushroom. Nerra seemed easily excited, but even Eleena couldn’t find herself enthralled by the latest presentation. 

When there was time, when nobody was looking, Nerra let Eleena sit on his knee while he told her stories. Fables and parables. Some were silly, and some Eleena couldn’t understand, but Nerra said it was important she heard. 

Gida snatched Eleena up, hoisting her onto a cocked hip and letting out a string of words Eleena didn’t understand. The other servants squirmed under the pressure of her disapproval.

“Nerra!” she hissed. “Where did you get that? You are to bring ruin upon us with your recklessness!”

“Gida, Gida!” he tried to soothe her. “It was on the grounds. It would have been wasted, they won’t notice.”

“A mushroom now, and what next? You waste time trying to save the wrong things.”

“We have to preserve our culture, Gida.” Nerra’s posture fell, like a whipped animal. He cradled the mushroom close to him like a precious artifact. His wide eyes pleaded with her.

“If we are to preserve our culture we must first preserve ourselves,” she said, cradling Eleena close as Nerra did the mushroom. Eleena looked up into Gida’s face. There was a fierceness in her eyes, but also a tiredness. 

“Please,” Nerra begged her. “We already could not give her a proper blessing. Let her have this. You’re hungry aren’t you?” he changed tactics, addressing Eleena. She looked between him and Gida, not knowing what to say.

An angry breath puffed out of Gida’s nose on a long exhale. She didn’t say anything, jaw set, clenched tightly, but she nodded permission to Nerra and set Eleena down. His yellow green lekku twitched in excitement. He smiled wide, and motioned for Eleena to follow him. 

Gida watched from across the quarters with her arms crossed. Eleena couldn’t tell if she was in trouble, but she followed Nerra. Stoking a small fire, still smiling, he gently sat the mushroom next to Eleena.

“Do you remember our stories?” he asked her. Eleena nodded. Truthfully, she only remembered a few, but Nerra always liked to retell them whether she did or not. Nerra seemed happy and she didn’t want to disappoint him and say she forgot.

“I’m going to make you a very special dinner tonight. It’s called the Mother’s Feast. We eat this when something special happens and we want to remember it,” Nerra said as he began to boil water over the fire. “We enjoy the things we can now, because we won’t always have them, Eleena. Some day you and I, and Gida, and all the Twi’leks will go back to the Mother. She will take us to the After, and we will rest.”

Eleena tried to follow along, kicking her feet out as Nerra told his story again.

“The Mother of Twi’leks made us in her image. We are born of her here, to live and exist now, and experience all which the universe has to give.” As the water began to boil, Nerra gathered other ingredients, cutting each in half before adding them to the pot.

“Every time we join in marriage or have children, or something special happens, something we want to remember, we make this meal. We do this because when we remember these things, we bring them to the Mother. We show her these wonderful things, and we thank her for the chance we have to experience them.”

“But what about the bad things?” Eleena asked. “And the sad things? Is she going to remember them too?” Eleena couldn’t remember very far back, but what she could wasn’t very happy. She didn’t know her parents. Gida took care of her mostly, when she wasn’t with Nerra.

Nerra kept smiling, but his eyes looked very sad. He stayed quiet for a little, tending to the boiling food. When he finally spoke again, his voice was low and wistful. He didn’t take his eyes off the pot.

“The Mother didn’t give us life to live one way. She does not exist to take away from us, or anyone else. She does not exist to punish or rule over any people. Sometimes bad things do happen, but when we go to the Mother she will soothe us of our pains. The Mother is balance, and where there is great suffering, there too is great compassion. 

“We will not be here forever. When bad things happen, Eleena, we find the strength to weather them because one day things will be better. We will celebrate that triumph, and the Mother will take our pain. We are a strong people, and when we go to the Mother she will see will bless us again.” 

Nerra finally looked back to Eleena. His eyes misted, but still he smiled. Not knowing what else to do, Eleena stood and hugged him around the knees. Nerra bent at the waist, picking her up and hugging her tightly. His clothes smelled like wood and smoke, and his smile wobbled just a little. His eyes got even sadder.

Brushing at his eyes with his hand, he went on, cradling Eleena to him with one arm while he went back to preparing the food.

“Now, when we make the Mother’s Feast, we start with a stone bowl. This stands for the lands we walk and the homes we keep. It’s solid and sturdy and strong, just like our hearts. With a spark we make a fire, which represents our spirits. Warm and bright, dancing and alive.”

Nerra gathered two bowls and a spoon. Gida looked out the window to the setting sun and left, pausing at the door for just a moment before squaring her shoulders, never looking back. Eleena rested her cheek on Nerra’s shoulder. The scratchy cloth tickled her skin.

“We add the water. Water adapts, it changes. It can rage or flow, it can dance as a mist, or harden into ice. Just like the water, our minds also adapt. We add foods that grow as we do: hardy plants that grow against the odds. Mushrooms, tubers and root vegetables, plants that find a way to thrive, even in the darkest places. Finally, as the air we breathe fills our lungs, we turn that into music, for the music we sing is the truest manifestation of our souls which the Mother has given us.”

By the time Nerra finished his explanation, he filled both bowls. He let Eleena down, and she sat at the small table. Her bowl steamed in front of her, a saucy, thick soup, bubbling brown and full of vegetables. Taking the other bowl in both hands, he knelt and pressed his forehead gently to hers.

Rising, he said, “I want you to think of every happy thing you can remember while I sing them to the Mother. Can you do that for me?”

Eleena nodded. She began to eat, and Nerra sang softly into the bowl. The food didn’t taste much different from what they usually ate, except for the mushrooms. As tears fell from Nerra’s eyes, though, she knew it must be very important to him. 

She tried very hard to think of a happy thing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Malgus**

The Jedi Temple burned. Coruscant burned. The sky bled orange and black, yellow and red. Malgus wished to bask in the heat glow of destruction, but his victory was tainted. Adraas soiled his conquest, sharing in the slaying of the master Jedi. It was an embarrassment that it would be seen as Adraas being an equal to Malgus in combat. 

And Eleena was still missing. Neither among the living nor the dead. An unknown. Malgus combed through the corpses. Jedi and Sith lay strewn across the floor, as broken as the temple itself. Their crumpled bodies gave no clues to her whereabouts. She never came to the temple. 

A copper flash caught his eye. The Mandalorian also surveyed the ruin. Tension clawed at her shoulders as she clutched her helmet in a two handed grip. Her eyes narrowed, lips pulling farther and farther into a scowl. As her gaze met his, her demeanor did not improve. Donning her helmet, she left wordlessly, flying off into the dying sky.

His warriors who remained among the living gathered near the drop ship, awash in the euphoria of victory. They raised their fists, saluting him. From each man and woman came the voice of ten as they shouted their victory cry. Adraas joined them, his fist lazily lifted, head tilted sarcastically to taunt Malgus. 

He would see Adraas rot.

“You are servants of the Empire, and of the Force,” Malgus’s voice dominated the room, pulling yet another cheer from his warriors. His mind, though, was pulled elsewhere. He could feel her. Malgus felt Eleena’s presence, knew she lived, and yet could not locate her. The disjunction of her surroundings overlaying his distorted reality, as if Malgus were experiencing two separate consciousnesses. 

Malgus didn’t dare try to reach her via comm in front of everyone. He couldn’t afford to look weak, fretting about a woman. Never mind let it be known she’d disobeyed and disrespected him. Were it any other being they would be dead. Eleena was different. She made Malgus feel things he didn’t understand, do things he couldn’t comprehend. 

Be that as it may, he could not allow this. He had to find her, to right at least that wrong. He focused on the feeling of her, could feel fear, but determination. Not danger, exactly, but a sense of urgency. Eleena must have seen the mistake she had made, and yet was unable to return to him due to circumstances of the state of the surface. 

Malgus became aware of the depth of their companionship by the depth of his attunement to her. The familiarity of her emotions, the emptiness he felt in their distance now that he was searching.

He could sense her approximate direction, could follow his double-sight…

“I signaled to Darth Angral that the Temple was secure…” Malgus did not need to turn to see the defiant curl to Adraas’s lips. His voice bent with it, as if speaking gluttonously around decadent fruits. “You seemed…preoccupied with other things at the time.”

Acutely aware of the eyes of his warriors, Malgus could not deliver the reprimand Adraas deserved. He crossed Malgus too many times to be allowed to live. He was a disgusting abomination of weakness, wielding the false power of political favor. From between clenched teeth, Malgus spoke.

“I will forgive your arrogation of power this once. You will not overstep again. Now, remove yourself from my sight.”

“Yes, Darth Malgus,” Adraas said coolly, bowing easily as if his dismissal was a casual farewell and not the poor substitute for murder it was. The lightness in Adraas’s step turned Maglus’s blood to a liquid sun coursing through his body. The rushing in his ears drowned out the sound of his hate-labored breathing. He felt the rumble in his chest building into a scream cut short by his comlink begging his attention.

Could it be Eleena?

Mindful not to reveal his disappointment, he took the summons from Darkness, Darth Angral’s command cruiser.

“Darth Malgus, I’m told the Temple is secured. Well done.” Angral’s voice came accompanied with the noises of a busy bridge. A well-oiled machine carrying out its purpose. And yet everything was so horribly, devastatingly wrong. Malgus said nothing.

“How many warriors did you lose in the assault?” Angral continued, missing or else dismissing his plight.

“Adraas wasted your time to tell you of our victory without informing you?”

“You are wasting my time now, Malgus.”

Malgus let a long, angry breath out from his nose. The bitter taste of the day stuck at the back of his throat.

“Perhaps thirty,” Malgus finally said.

“I see. I will send a medical transport to retrieve you before bombardment reaches the Temple.”

“I will take care of the temple,” Malgus interjected. 

“Will you?” Malgus could hear Angral looking down his nose to him. A contempt somewhere under the shadow of disapproval. Although he did not care for politics, Malgus had until this point been on well-enough terms with Angral. Something must have happened very recently to make him fall out of favor so drastically. The only explanation was Adraas.

“Nothing shall remain.”

“Very well,” Angral said, closing communications without another word. Stalking outside, Malgus prepared to bring everything down. Eleena was gone. He had been humiliated time and again, from the sting of a wound in his flesh to his murdered pride as the day he’d dreamed of crumbled around him. He was a prodigy of darkness, a warrior unmatched, given a glimpse into a future foretold by the Force itself.

Those many, many years ago Malgus took a pilgrimage to Korriban. The Force was alive there in ways Malgus had never experienced before. Tombs and temples unmarred by those who misunderstood the Force sat in wait like great beasts. As Malgus walked among them, alone in the bitter cold of the desert planet, he had been granted a vision. The coarse sands of Korriban churned like crystals of dried blood around him, and he had seen his destiny.

That destiny could still be reached. Malgus knew he would be the fist that ground the Republic to dust, the spark that lit the flame that burned the galaxy down. Perfection through conflict. He would make himself stronger, destroy all that dared stand in his way. Power pulsed through him as his anger built. Black smoke curled skyward in the distance and Malgus swore to paint the whole atmosphere of Coruscant with its match. 

Of the six shining statues that led to the entrance of the Jedi temple, four still stood. Focusing his anger and hatred and frustration on their glimmering forms, he brought both fists into the air, taking hold of them with the Force. Malgus brought all four down simultaneously, slamming his fists into the ground and cratering the duracrete with the force of the impact.

Rage numbed the pain of his metacarpals crushing under the force of his strike. Rage numbed the pain of many things. Clenching his jaw so tightly a small, faraway part of his mind marveled that he didn’t shatter a tooth, Malgus pointed to the drop ship and began shouting commands. 

“With me, to the drop ship!” he bellowed. “Use the leftover explosives and bring the temple down!” 

His warriors cheered as he felled the statues, and again as he sealed the fate of the Jedi Temple and all those inside. His warriors stood beside him on his most glorious day as he held the detonator in his mangled, broken hand, ready to deliver the final blow to the Temple and reduce it to dust. His warriors could not fill the emptiness which clawed at his very being, hindering him in ways he’d never experienced before.

Nor could the conflict.

Nor could the Force.

Malgus felt no satisfaction, only more cavernous dread as he thumbed the detonator. From his peripheral vision he saw everyone else throwing up protective barriers of Force energy, shielding themselves from the flying debris. 

Malgus tasted something wild, free, like soil…and then blood. And then emptiness and blackness, as if he’d been eaten alive from the inside out.

 

 

Malgus felt like this once before. Defeat filled his mouth, disappointment and hatred and pain churning like a storm inside him. Then, a Jedi had bested him in combat, burying him in a pile of rubble from the cliff side she’d blasted him into. Once again Malgus felt his labored breathing, his body falling as a casualty to Jedi ideals and stone. 

His mind swam. If he were told he’d been down for a minute or a year he’d believe either. The abstract of time was useless to him. Opening his eyes, the sky of Coruscant was the same color he’d left it. 

Malgus lifted himself to a crouch before his body failed him and he fell prone, losing consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Eleena**  
The beings around her fell into varying depths of sleep. Some were fitful, some curled themselves into tight balls under their tablecloths. The mother from the park wedged herself into a corner, holding her daughter tightly in her sleep. 

Eleena could only sit with her chin on her knees watching them sleep for so long. The silvery kitchen utensils and clean white floors reflected enough light to see more than Eleena wished. She saw tears they thought they hid, and checking and rechecking for any messages on their comlinks. 

Local communications were cut, and Eleena turned off her comm hours earlier. The only being that might try to reach her, she couldn’t face. Wouldn’t. And so, even though she was surrounded by beings, Eleena felt the depth of her isolation creeping around the edges of her consciousness. 

Standing, Eleena tucked her makeshift blanket over a human who had begun to shiver and left the kitchen. She didn’t know where she would go, what she would do, but she couldn’t stay where she was. Everything in her life before was laid out for her. For the first time, she realized, Eleena was entirely in charge. Was she going down a path she could be proud of?

Her path right now took her to the dining area where the first unexpected turn of her new life began. The world outside disappeared in the blackness of night. The deep tint of the windows drowned any light there may yet be on the streets. The known universe for Eleena and the beings under her protection existed only within the walls of Ilda’s restaurant. 

A sigh drew Eleena’s attention. Ilda sat at the bar, nursing a drink. Eleena could barely make out her form in the darkness.

“Can’t sleep,” Ilda said quietly. “I have insomnia. My medicine is back at my apartment. Never thought to bring some here, you know?” Looking up, even in the dim light, Ilda’s large Sullustan eyes glittered. Eleena couldn’t read her expression.

“Would you like some company?” Eleena offered. Ilda patted a barstool.

“Told you the cellar was good,” Ilda said, pouring Eleena a dark drink into a wine glass. Taking a sip, Eleena noted it was daintier, more complex than the drinks she shared with Shae. It tasted a lot more like liquid fruit than liquid fire. 

“Very,” Eleena agreed.

“I never thought we would need the backup generators for the cooler,” Ilda mused. Eleena could tell Ilda wasn’t talking about the cooler, not really. But she let Ilda speak.

“‘It’s Coruscant,’ I thought. Food service regulation says we have to have an annual check of the generators. I never thought the main grid would lose power in the first place, thought it was just layers and layers of protocol, but I’m glad for it now even if I was just following orders.”

Eleena’s grip on the glass tightened slightly. 

“You seem to give out orders easy. You wear Republic armor, but you haven’t signaled to the Republic Army that you have a group of survivors. But you also haven’t signaled to anyone else.” Ilda swirled her drink, finished it, and poured herself another. 

The weight of Eleena’s armor was suddenly oppressive. It was from the Imperial Fleet. A relic of the day it was attacked and claimed by the Empire as the Sith returned to their cold desert-world they called home. Forgotten Republic trash. Eleena wore it on this mission to better blend in instead of her familiar tactical gear. She didn’t know which would look worse under Ilda’s acute vision.

The astringent drink exacerbated the sudden dryness in Eleena’s throat.

“I don’t know who you’re allied with, if anyone,” Ilda went on, “But you’re not just following orders. If you were, we wouldn’t be here. For better or for worse.”

Ilda turned her glittering, accusing eyes back on Eleena. Eleena didn’t wither under the glare, though perhaps she could understand how that look could frighten some. She had seen worse. 

Eleena said nothing as they inspected each other. She wasn’t versed in the nuances of Sullustan expressions. Those once seemingly determined eyes became massive, black pits, unreadable and unknown. Before, Eleena knew to trust none. They were exactly as they seemed: dangerous, cunning, biting at one another’s throats. Eleena learned the lesson quickly that no being will be what they seemed. 

“Thing about troops,” Ilda resumed, “Is we can pick out our kind, no matter how long we’ve been out of the service. Thing about not sleeping is, there’s plenty of time to think in the quiet and the dark, but no matter how much I think, I can’t figure you out.

“You come into my restaurant and take charge, you keep my people safe, you make sure they’re going to be taken care of. The surveillance cameras, they’re on the same backup as the cooler. I saw the recording over, and over, and over.” Ilda rapped her knuckles on the bar softly, emphasizing her words. 

Eleena, until this point, held the belief that if she said nothing, she couldn’t be caught in her lie. She needed a new outfit, a better disguise, before she escaped Coruscant. 

“I have no intention of hurting you,” Eleena finally said. 

“But you already have.”

The interjection cut deep. Eleena drained her glass, covering her grimace. To her surprise, Ilda poured her another. They were drinking from the same bottle. Ilda confused Eleena as much as she confused Ilda, it seemed. The entire situation was unreadable. Nodding her thanks, Eleena let Ilda continue. 

“That armor you’re wearing is incredibly outdated. I don’t know where you got it, but when I first saw you I figured we’re so stretched thin the greens were getting whatever was left. This war, it’s draining everyone. I gave you the benefit of that doubt, but when I watched those recordings, you were running before those bombs dropped. You knew they would.

“You’re a runner. As far back as I could see you, you were running. A defector. But a defector for the enemy. But I also saw you save that woman. And when you did, you brought her here, and you’ve been watching over her ever since. 

“Now I have a choice here. I can hold you here, and you can tell the Republic everything you know when they come. But I’m old. I don’t know if I’ll come out on top if you put up a fight, and if your people come looking for you, you’re a danger to mine.”

An electric jolt of fresh guilt rocked her body. Ilda was right. If Veradun were to find Eleena here…would anyone survive? Ilda went quiet for a moment. The only sound in the restaurant was Eleena’s breathing growing heavier as the words soaked in. Feeling a tickle on her cheek, she was shocked to find herself crying. 

Eleena drained her glass again before slouching over the bar, pressing her palm to her forehead.

“Or I can send you out. You can put as much distance between yourself and us as you can. You can run, you’re good at that. I can spare you ‘cause you spared them and let you run run run far away, as far as you want, so when they do come get you, you won’t be a danger to us.”

Ilda’s voice carried the weight of a life of tragedy on a whisper. Memories surged behind her eyes, and Eleena didn’t know how much of it was a lifetime of war and how much was the drink. Eleena didn’t suppose it mattered. 

 

 

Leaving was much easier the second time, Eleena found. She hadn’t forged any bonds, had nothing to leave behind. She didn’t even need to return to the kitchen. Ilda locked the restaurant door behind her as Eleena left into the sickly darkness of the wounded planet.

Staying close to the buildings, Eleena carved her path toward the Liston Spaceport. Walking the long streets of Coruscant was different from the clean-cut top down view of the city planet. While Veradun watched and rewatched the briefings to learn of his opponents, Eleena watched and rewatched to learn of her escape. She knew the Empire’s points of interest, where their populations would be densest. What they would destroy, and what they would commandeer. 

Alone with her thoughts, Eleena tried to keep a grasp of her location as she marched the quiet streets. She had to keep focused. If she slipped into the ideation that pressed at the back of her mind like a whispered promise of safety, she could get caught. Or even try to…

Shaking her head, Eleena shoved the thought down. Her mind was made up. She’d never get another chance like this, and so neither would Veradun.

She tried one last time to make him realize what they were doing, but he had betrayed her. Forging her path forward, she wanted desperately to return, but to do so would be to betray herself.  



	6. Chapter 6

**Malgus**   
“With all due respect, my Lord,” the medic said with exactly none of the due respect, “You have these structures inside your body called organs. They’re very expensive for the Empire to make, and very costly in time to repair.” He flipped his fingers across his datapad. On another day Malgus would crush him where he stood for speaking out of line. Today, he stared at the ceiling, seething. Steadfast was a prison to Malgus. A monument to his failure. Being shuttled to his own ship, a congression of shame.

Malgus felt his twisted scowl deepen under the familiar pressure of his respirator. Last time he wasn’t seen in this disgusting, vulnerable position. Last time, he had Eleena. 

Refusing to board his own ship on a gurney, Malgus began tearing at the sensors and tubes. He’d walk his own damned self into Valor. Two blaster wounds, two broken hands, several broken ribs…the fresh heat of pain reminded him of his younger years on Dromund Kaas. The medic watched, but made no move to stop him. Good.

The uneven sound of Malgus’s gait reminded him once again of the un-sound of Eleena’s absence. He had grown so accustomed to her presence, or the expectation of its return, that he found himself strangely empty without it. Never mind the chasm of sense that carved itself into his consciousness as the double-sight of her surroundings and emotions flickered into his.

She felt alone right now. Afraid, but determined as ever. There was a deep, profound sadness Malgus had until now overlooked, so ubiquitous to her presence that he could not divorce it from her. The realization clenched at his throat, and he found the name of the sentiment somewhere in a faraway part of him he thought long dead: guilt.

The haze of nighttime darkness and chill clung to the edges of his awareness. Night had fallen over Eleena in the time it took for Malgus to be bandaged and returned to Valor. The white medical tape glared a blindingly stark contrast to his uniform. It felt as if a cruel god mocked him.

Stomping onto the bridge, ignoring the fire in his bones, Malgus tried to contact Eleena via comm. 

Nothing.

Could something have happened? He could feel her single minded determination. She must have planned to return to Valor to await him.

“Have the men prepare my personal shuttle,” Malgus instructed his second in command.

“Incoming communications from the surface, my Lord,” Jard returned.

Malgus drew himself up, and the bridge fell silent around him. 

“Route it to my shuttle,” Malgus said, standing over Jard like an eclipse. “I have business on the surface.”

 

 

 

The cumbersome bandages on Malgus’s hands prolonged his departure. The humiliating, pillowy wrappings made everything difficult. The ringing of the hail pricked his ears like needles until Malgus finally slammed his fist into the dash, crumpling it and locking the button into place. Fresh pain shot up from his knuckles all the way to his shoulder.

Twice this day Malgus hoped Eleena would reach him, and twice Angral’s sharp, hatchet face greeted him instead. 

Angral occupied a desk of Republic make, though there wasn’t much else to see. The projection focused too closely to make out the surroundings. Malgus could extrapolate by the relaxed posturing and expression that Angral had claimed the office, which meant the occupants were dead, dying, or captured. An improvement on the day thusfar. Trapped on the medical transport and then shuttled to his own cruiser, Malgus had no opportunity to gauge the status of the surface.

“Darth Malgus,” Angral’s tone edged on boredom, his expression clear distaste. “I see you’ve finally made it to your ship.”

“I will return to the surface shortly to—”

“That won’t be necessary,” Angral cut in sharply with a dismissive wave of his hand. His eyes narrowed as he leaned in, a blue silhouette of annoyance. “I have dissolved the senate. Coruscant is in a state of martial law as the Empire and Republic settle peace negotiations.”

“Negotiations? Peace? Explain yourself!”

“You believe Darth Angral owes you explaination, Malgus?” Adraas leaned into the radius of the projection, looking as though he had caught a pest in a trap. Satisfied. Smug. “After the events of today, it appears as though you should be the one indebted. Perhaps you should return to Steadfast for reevaluation.” 

“You presume to speak for Darth Angral?” Malgus countered. Angral sat unreadable, observing the exchange. Malgus did not have time for either of them. He had to get back to Coruscant. To Eleena.

Adraas, already a favorite of Angral’s, sat with him in the senate as the Empire negotiated peace with the Republic. Eleena was missing. Malgus was injured. How could everything be so wrong, so out of place? It was as if Malgus were trapped in some dark fantasy. This could not be reality. Nothing was as it should be.

“Of course not,” Adraas purred coolly before turning to Angral. “You see, my Lord? He has been behaving strangely since the attack on the temple. If you’ll recall from my report, his…woman was absent. It appears his mind is preoccupied with his lover’s quarrel—”

“Lover’s quarrel?” Malgus raged. “Don’t be ridiculous! My mind is ‘preoccupied’ only by the death of the Republic! I have no time for your games, Adraas!” Malgus resumed preparations for his departure. He tried to cease communications, only to find the stuck button. Adraas inclined his head as if to say, “See what I mean?”

“If you are…quite finished, Malgus,” Angral finally spoke, “While you recover from your injuries, I’ll have you command the blockade. Ensure the safety of the hyperspace lanes.”

“This is below me,” Malgus growled, turning his attention back to the blue pests glimmering on his dash. 

“Then it should be no problem for you, Darth Malgus,” Adraas said, dipping his head forward until indigo shadows pooled under his eyes. “You heard the man. No one enters, and nothing leaves.”

 

 

Malgus left Jard in charge as he stormed into his personal quarters. Empty air and silence greeted him where Eleena would be. Should be. 

Adjacent to the sleeping quarters, Malgus had a small working area. The tidy edges and minimalistic storage held his life…most of his life. But there were hints and traces of what was missing. In a cabinet near the door Eleena kept a store of tea. Occasionally as she left to do as Malgus bid, the stock would replenish. 

Malgus did not care for the drink. He thought the tea tasted something like trying to swallow a tree, but Eleena apparently enjoyed it, and so Malgus permitted its storage. Now he found himself steeping it in her absence. Noticing the warmth from the mug through his glove, the scented steam curling up toward him like a whisper…

Shaking his head, Malgus squashed down the thoughts. He was a grown man, a Dark Lord of the Sith. Not some pining fool who could be reduced to desperation. He was simply preparing himself a drink while he waited to make his move.

Without the sway Angral had, he was trapped aboard his own ship until the blockade eclipsed itself. To avoid being shot down by his own men Malgus would have to return to the planet’s surface like some lowly, filthy smuggler. Until he regained full use of his hands Malgus could not pilot his shuttle precisely enough to do otherwise.

Furthermore, he could not give Adraas the satisfaction of being—

Agony ripped through Malgus’s guts. The pain of his broken body flashed like a solar flare. Fermentation and rotted fruit bubbled up his throat like bile. Wheezing, Malgus reached for the medication the medic had given him on a disinterested huff. The hot tea scalded his throat as he gulped down the coagulant pills before jamming the next stim—one barely better than what could be found in a basic medpac—into his thigh.

A little internal bleeding wasn’t enough for a full bacta-immersion. Not when one serves the Empire. 

Through the pain Malgus found the dark sanctuary of the Force. Through the Force he felt clarity once again. Eleena was on the move under the cover of night. A minefield of chill bumps erupted across Malgus’s arms as she wrapped hers around herself. It was a cold night on Coruscant.

Bracing himself against the wall, Malgus followed Eleena as best he could, focused on the feeling of her, the surroundings. If her comm wasn’t working, it would be best to have at least a general idea of her location. Inky oceans of darkness gave to waxy street lights as Eleena approached a section of the quadrant that still had power.

Malgus felt the blackness of night creeping farther and farther around him. The feeling of Eleena’s presence dissipated as the Force vision overcame him. Just as it had on Korriban, the scene came unbidden, and his senses were ripped into it like water into rapids.

Looking down, Eleena lay in his hands. Dead. Where once fires and glory burned as he razed the galaxy, now in his vision Malgus saw only her…delicate, light as smoke, her fire extinguished. He saw his tears on her body and realized what he could never admit to himself before: to lose her would destroy him. 

Surfacing from the vision he drowned in, Malgus’s breath came in shuddering, heaving gasps. His ribs crunched on the panting waves. Wild, desperate urgency trickled into his veins like ice. Before, on Korriban, he’d awakened from the vision empowered, driven, filled with purpose, forged by the fires of destiny. This was different, like viewing himself from a window parallel. Not a promise, but a warning.


	7. Chapter 7

**Malgus**

The moment of escape approached, and Malgus resumed preparations. As he could still feel Eleena, though faintly, he knew he hadn’t lost his chance. Malgus would not squander it. He would save her.

Powering down the portcomp on his desk, Malgus saw his reflection in the darkened screen. He saw his hairless, furrowed brow and scarred, puckered face. The glow of his own eyes tracked across the screen like the focused gaze of a predator. Malgus never dwelled long on reflections. 

Now was not the time to start. 

Hearing the door to his quarters whispering shut behind him, Malgus once again focused on the feeling of Eleena. The persistent chill began to prickle his skin. If she didn’t warm up soon she could get sick. Malgus admired her persistence but silently wished she would stay put.

The procession to his personal shuttle stretched out agonizingly. Each step felt like it took one hundred, and the closer Malgus got to returning Eleena the farther she slipped from him. Shadows curled where they shouldn’t like toxic smoke. 

“Punctual as ever, my Lord,” Jard greeted him with a crisp salute, dissipating the fog momentarily. “There is something I think you should see.”

“Later, Jard. First I have pressing issues on the surface.”

“We’ve apprehended an alleged Imperial sniper with information concerning the Jedi, sir.”

The implications of all Jard said in those few words swirled for a moment in Malgus’s mind. Were he to let the matter sit while he retrieved Eleena, this new development may be yet another strike against him as he falls farther and farther out of favor. Furthermore, as an Imperial alone, planetside on Coruscant, the stirrings of wounded Jedi may present an even greater threat to her. 

Was this the meaning of his Force vision? Or will the vision lead into itself? Clenching his fists, Malgus traced the circles in his mind over until there could never be sense to be made of it. 

“Be quick about it, Jard.”

 

Pulling surveillance as he allowed the alleged Imperial Vrath Xizor to come relay his information, Malgus noted his ship, his posture, his words that sounded so small and faraway. The ship told of a man who may have been an Imperial once, but the modifications betrayed a notion of his continued service. Which led to his posture: that of a man trained to seem as though he had not been trained. Malgus saw through his calculated slouch, but Vrath’s eyes weren’t as sharp as he let himself think.

And then, as Vrath received his news that Malgus would allow audience with him, instead of gratefulness or relief, he responded with childish action. First kicking a trooper into a sergeant before seizing another trooper in a choke, he taunted, “Don’t look like much.”

Indeed, Vrath Xizor did not look like much. Whatever information he claimed to have, it had better be worth stalling Malgus. It did not appear to be going in Vrath’s favor thusfar.

Closing the surveillance in favor of a view of Coruscant, Malgus waited for the escort to bring Vrath. He could acutely feel the planet beneath him, and somewhere on it was Eleena. His chest ached. The blaster wounds were a mere tingle of charred nerves, but the taste of blood never left his mouth. As the doors hissed open, Malgus could feel the black tar of rage once again bubbling up.

With Jard at his side, Malgus let that rage billow. It already felt like he was simmering in a mistake. He should have returned to Coruscant. This Vrath Xizor was already turning into nothing but another complication. Still, he spoke of Jedi. That so far was the only thing keeping him alive.

“Jard, have there been any developments in the…negotiations? Official or otherwise. What could this be?”

“None yet, my lord. Xizor refused to give us the information. Apparently at hearing you were the captain, he demanded you hear personally what he had to say.”

In a sharp motion Jard observed Xizor’s arrival while Malgus mulled over that. “My lord,” he said, “The prisoner I spoke of is here.”

As Malgus turned his eyes to Xizor, the man deflated from his small victory of smugness into little more than a frightened child. With every step he took, Malgus could see a tremble of ill-suppressed fear ripple through Xizor. He called for a titan, and yet could not handle even the sight of one. Malgus’s knuckles cracked as his fists clenched harder and harder.

“Dismissed,” Malgus commanded his troops, leaving Xizor pinned under his gaze like a specimen pinned to an observation board. Xizor stirred uncomfortably in his restraints. Good.

“You mentioned a Jedi to Commander Jard,” Malgus began. He had little time and no patience. Xizor had better get to the point quickly.

“I did…my lord,” the coward all but whimpered. This was clearly not going as he expected. 

“Explain.”

“A freighter is en route to Coruscant…a Jedi is on board.”

“Just one?” Malgus asked. It was certainly strange, but what threat did a single Jedi pose to an entire Sith blockade? 

“As far as I know just one, yes,” Xizor nodded, stammering. “A human, mid-thirties. She’s got long light brown hair and she’s flying with a man named Zeerid Korr.” 

Xizor’s words came faster and faster, like water spilling out that he couldn’t plug up and he knew he was sinking.

“How do you know this woman is a Jedi?” Malgus demanded. 

“I saw her using a green light saber…I saw—I saw her using the Force!”

Malgus took a step closer, watching Xizor squirm and cower. The man was struggling with himself just to stand before Malgus. It was pathetic to watch. This man went from haughtily dropping his former unit as if it could get him where he pleased to a writhing worm by the mere presence of a Darth. He was a waste of Malgus’s time.

“Tell me then, Vrath Xizor, what else is aboard this ship. Why and when is it coming to Coruscant?”

The sound of Vrath pressing against the door like a cornered animal scratched at Malgus’s ears.

“Engspice!” Xizor blurted. “The ship is carrying engspice!”

And there it was. Vrath Xizor had traveled into restricted space to deliver a message, not of rogue Jedi acting to instigate the Empire or retaliate for the loss of their temple. No, there was a delivery to be made of highly addictive engspice. Which meant that for Vrath to know this, he was a competitor, playing at a game he thought larger than it truly was.

Malgus thought it time for Xizor to give him a reason, an…outlet…for the rage he’d invoked. 

“This Zeerid Korr is a spice runner?”

“He is.”

“Why would a Jedi associate with a spice runner, Vrath Xizor?” Xizor’s already rapid pulse jumped at the second repetition of his name. Nervous sweat slicked his forehead.

“I…don’t know my lord…”

Drawing himself up, Malgus glared down at Xizor. So far beneath him the man cowered. Malgus could crush him with his boot if he so pleased and the only memory this universe would have of him would be the janitor’s grumblings as he sopped up Xizor’s blood.

“And you?” Malgus probed. “Are you a spice runner? A business rival, maybe?”

“No, no, I am a former Imperial. A sniper. I’m…I’m just doing my part for the Empire, my lord!” Even as the words left his lips Xizor cringed at the obvious lie. A cruel smile split Malgus’s lips. Xizor’s pupils dilated in fear, knowing he’d misstepped. 

Using the dark grip of the Force, Malgus pressed on Xizor’s throat before he could backtrack, fix his story. There was no Jedi. It was only a ruse to prevent a business rival from furthering himself. A bold and foolish move on Xizor’s part. A mistake he’d not make twice.

Only one punishment could be suitable for wasting his time like this, for keeping him from Eleena.

 

Returning to his command chair, not feeling any better but glad to be rid of at least one annoyance, Malgus observed the incoming convoy.

“Convoy requesting landing instructions, my lord,” Jard called from the command lectern.

“Provide it to them. And have them remove Xizor’s ship from my hangar while they’re at it.”

The opportunity was missed. Returning to his menial assignment, Malgus probed his senses once more toward Eleena.

**Author's Note:**

> Super big kudos to @doomhamster for all the support, encouragement, and zealous conversations about our favorite Darth.


End file.
